Welcome to a year of reading Richard Sibbes together! The reading plan for the entire year can be accessed here. I encourage you to stick with us, allow yourself time to read, and soak in the riches of this gifted and prolific Puritan preacher. You will be edified and encouraged.
If you have trouble with how Sibbes used words, check out the Lexicons of Early Modern English for definitions from the period.
Summary/Engagement
Derrick stumbled through the doorway to the Alcoholic’s Anonymous meeting. It was plain from his bloodshot eyes, disheveled clothing, and reeking breath that he had been drinking. The rest of the group looked at him with varying degrees of pity and disgust. Derrick showed up this way almost every week. Josh, the group leader, had enough. “You are not welcome here, Derrick. You want to drink more than you want to be clean. Your actions show that. You’re not only endangering yourself, but everyone else here with your actions. Until you want to be serious about quitting, this is not the place for you. You need to change.”
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Just as Derrick doesn’t want to quit, many so called Christians do not want to conform to Christ. They think that just showing up at the meeting is enough. Outward conformity is as far as they’re willing to go. The only problem with that is the refusal to renounce sin will show in their life. And like our imperfect metaphor above, they should be disciplined out of membership if they refuse to repent. Though unlike an AA meeting, they’re still welcome to attend and hear the gospel preached to their dead heart. Christ is not after behavior modification, he fundamentally changes you.
Claiming Christ means we must conform to him. “We are enemies, and if enemies we must be made friends. How shall we be fit for communion else with God, wherein our happiness stands, without conformity?” How indeed? As he notes, one of us must change. God is incapable of change as he is perfect. That leaves only us.
You cannot presume on God’s riches and kindness and ignore that his mercy is meant to lead us to repentance. (Romans 2:4) He expects us to change. This change is not a white knuckle program of moralism and rule keeping for the sake of rules. God gives us a new heart, and that new heart chooses to change. Many want Christ as Savior but not Christ as Lord also. They want the get out of hell free card and yet would have no regard for Christ. That is not salvation, that is presumptuous and blind damnation.
“Men trust to the grace and mercy of God, and look not after a change; and this holds many from embracing the gospel in the truth of it; from knowing Christ as the truth is in him. They hear they must be changed, which they are unwilling to do.”
Application / Further Discussion
In our age of decisionism and easy-believeism, many are unwilling to question the profession of anyone who claims they know Jesus Christ. Praying a prayer or simply affirming oneself as a Christian does not make one a Christian. The change is lasting, final, and real for those that have repented and believed in Christ. If God truly gives us a new nature and a new heart, then you will be changed.
In the church we must constantly encourage each other towards repentance and faith. This is discipleship at its core. The one who desires the mercy and grace of Christ will always desire power over sin. The fruit of the changed man is a heart fully tuned on God. The Christian will desire the loving correction of brothers and sisters to more fully conform to the image he has been remade in.
The unchanged man wants nothing to do with conformity to Christ if it will cost him anything. What he does not realize is that unless he gives up everything for Christ he will have nothing, which will cost him everything. He must give up that which is fleeting to gain that which is eternal.
What we cannot do is look for drastic changes as the norm. There is a change from “ill to good,” and following that “from better to better.” Our nature is changed in an instant when God saves us. Our hearts are new, our chains are off, we are set free. This is only the beginning of the Spirit’s work in us. As we read last week, we are not freed from the fight, but free to fight. Look for changes, however small. Look for evidences of the fight against sin. Remember, there are smoking flaxes and bruised reeds and Christ will not quench them. Neither should we.
Fan to flame any evidence of Christ in someone and encourage them. If there is no evidence of Christ, do all you can to set them alight. Tell them of the excellency of the gospel above the law. Let them see the mercy of Christ.
Preach the gospel.
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Last week, we read chapters 3 and 4 of Glorious Freedom: The Excellency of the Gospel Above the Law.
Next week, we’ll finish Glorious Freedom: The Excellency of the Gospel Above the Law.
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